Kolkata Knight Riders made light work of Royal Challengers Bangalore as they registered a nine-wicket handsome victory at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The RCB batsmen could not handle KKR’s fiery bowling as Andre Rusell and Varun Chakravarthy shared six wickets between them.
During the post-match presentation, Virat Kohli said that the batting collapse was something that he was not hoping for.
“We were 42-odd for one and then lost about five wickets within 20 runs from there, which is a very difficult situation to come back from. Bit of a collapse there for us, bit of a wake-up call and might as well have this at the start of the second leg so that we know exactly what we need to work on,” Kohli said.
“As professional cricketers, you are expected to turn up and adjust to the formats, that’s the dynamic of world cricket today. We have never found any troubles doing that but sometimes it can take you a game to get into the tournament,” Kohli further added.
As RCB encountered a batting collapse, Kohli said that he can’t afford to perform like that. He also lauded the KKR spinner on his outing.
“You can’t afford to lose four or five wickets within 20 runs. (On Varun Chakravarthy) Pretty good, that’s exactly what I was saying in the dug-out, he’s going to be a key factor when he plays for India. We need to see performances like these from all the youngsters so that the bench strength of Indian cricket stays strong. And, he’s someone who is going to play in the near future for India and it’s a great sign,” Kohli said.
“We have five wins from eight games, we expect a loss here and there in this tournament. That’s part and parcel of things. You have to take it in your stride like you take your victories in your strides as well. We just need to be professional and stick to our strengths and make sure that we execute the plans that we have properly on the field,” Kohli said on the remaining matches.
The right-handed batsman said that he was confident that his squad will bounce back in style and put in strong performances.
